Gelsey's Grace
To the Editors:
"Bravo" to Paul Gray for his outstanding article on Gelsey Kirkland [May 1] and on the dance explosion in the U.S. I, too, am a fairly recent convert to the world of dance, and I can still vividly recall my first Sleeping Beauty at the Met, with Nureyev and Fonteyn. All it takes is one superb, electric performance like that to turn anyone into a ballet fanatic.
Kirkland and Baryshnikov's Giselle, in this area, was another such performance, with Gelsey's fragile grace and beauty and Misha's exciting strength and virtuosity.
Mark E. Lehman Los Angeles
The photograph of Gelsey Kirkland lumbering up epitomizes the ambivalence inherent in Kirkland's ballet of perfection: it is at once artistically awe-inspiring and physically grotesque. The flesh is mortified, and the world is enriched.
William R. Jenkins III Greenwich, Conn.
Your article on Gelsey Kirkland was beautiful, and it made my twelve years of ballet seem all worthwhile.
Susan Kennedy Tuscaloosa, Ala.
I enjoyed Paul Gray's article about Gelsey Kirkland and the "soaring" of American ballet. However, I was disappointed that he began his article by depicting ballet classes as places for "countless thousands of little girls." This ignores the fact that there are boys in some of those classes. And it discourages the parents of other boys who might be considering ballet classes for their sons.
Bill E. Forisha Bowling Green, Ohio
As I was reading your story about Gelsey Kirkland I was again caught by the feeling I have received so many times when I've read about a show business great or near-great and that is--I'd much rather watch her perform than have to live with her!
Harriet Peltzman Eatontown, N.J.
Carter and Country
After reading your rather gloomy assessment of the Carter Administration and the state of the country [May 1], I have just one question: Have things ever been better?
Considering the lack of leadership over the past 15 years that produced recession, war and threats of impeachment, I think things look pretty good for Carter, and for the country.
David P. Osgood Santa Cruz, Calif.
The President came down from Camp David saying he would try to do better. He is supposed to have been doing his best for the past 15 months. Anything better will be the end of us. He pushes bills at Congress like a used car salesman shoving the finance papers under your nose. Just sign please. Don't bother to read the fine print, it's O.K.
Since then he has been on the boob tube like a teen-ager's idol. The only trouble is, he comes over with as much umph as a dish of grits.
John K. Stanyer Scotts Valley, Calif.
So! The President, according to the Iowa Democratic chairman, "is hauling too much water"?
Well, how could it be otherwise? Every time he sends some responsibility to Congress they "pour it back" because there's an election coming up. Every special interest group in the country stands around with its bucket -- many of them rusty and full of holes -- saying "fill it up." Carter is a very remarkable man with tremendous forbearance.
Lillian Johnson Livingston, Ala.
The Union Man
Although I haven't seen "F.I.S.T.," I much enjoyed Richard Schickel's review of it as "J.U.N.K." [May 1].
Yes, yes, Jimmy Hoffa deserves better. I took some of the last still photographs of Hoffa at his Michigan home. Some carpenters were building a new porch for him, and one of the men wanted to "go downtown for some stuff." Hoffa whipped out a pencil, grabbed a shingle and began writing down the crew's shopping list, then headed for his car to fill the list himself. "Why are you going?" I asked Jimmy. He winked at me and said, "You know how these union guys are --you send them downtown for nails and they end up having a few beers on the time clock." His broad smile covered the irony of his having helped labor achieve such a questionable state. He was a human. B.I.G.
Arthur Shay Deerfield, III.
Richard Schickel's review of Sylvester Stallone's "F.I.S.T." needed a qualifying phrase, or else it was an unnecessary slap at American labor. Schickel said the film did not offer a "historical insight into how the American labor movement so quickly deteriorated into self-serving materialism."
One can hope that he was only referring to some elements of American labor, not all.
Howard Denson Jacksonville
Schickel's review of "F.I.S.T." talks about everything but the tremendous passion, excitement and impact that Norman Jewison's direction infuses the film with. There's more genuine love for movie making in any single moment of "F.I.S.T.," more controlled energy and more depth of understanding, than any of the other "important" or "personal" films to come out this year.
Dale Winogura Los Angeles
Paraquat and Pot
I wonder if Dr. Bourne, in your story about spraying marijuana with paraquat [May 1], really believes that the people ever gave him or any other elected or appointed official a mandate to make our lives or parts of them "totally safe." If I wanted to be totally safe, I would expect legislation against getting out of bed. Does Dr. Bourne want me to believe that he is trying to save anyone from a dangerous substance by using another dangerous substance?
Bob Ricklefs Cimarron, N. Mex.
For many long years the U.S. Government has been trying to find something dangerous about marijuana; now they have made it dangerous.
Ralph Colby Ithaca, N. Y.
Why is Senator Percy worried about our "poisoning our citizens"? Have these citizens considered the fact that they are breaking the law in the first place?
If they want to break laws that are set up to protect them, why the concern when they end up in trouble? Keep spraying, Mexico!
Deb Castillo Columbus Grove, Ohio
Space Theology
It should come as no shock to Christians that there is life elsewhere in the universe, as discussed in "Dabbling in Exotheology" [April 24]. Christ identifies his own as existing "from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:31) and further tells us, "In my Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2).
Patrick C. Baker Elmhurst, N. Y.
The article "Dabbling in Exotheology" brought to my mind a question: Is there a belief that extraterrestrials may come here with the same questions about God. expecting answers?
Michael Ambrose Silver Spring, Md.
Your contention that in my Christian Century article I maintained that Jesus Christ was the product of a "genetics experiment" is ludicrous. My concern was whether the idea of the origin of humankind with extraterrestrial assistance would in any way compromise what the church believes about the uniqueness of God's revelation in and through Christ. Personally I don't think that it would, since the heart of that revelation (that God is love and mercy) is at the moral core of the universe. It is of cosmic dimensions and is not limited to the earth or to the people on it.
(The Rev.) Jack A. Jennings
Montana State University
Bozeman, Mont.
Greens Are Better
To Truman Capote's remark that the rich are different because "their vegetables are better" [May 1], I would like to add, "Especially their greens."
Paul Jasper Maywood, N.J.
Holocaust's Impact
The television production of Holocaust [May 1], contrary to the opinion of Elie Wiesel, was necessary to remind the world of the atrocities human beings are capable of perpetrating against one another. Though not stated, the production clearly indicated that there is a little bit of Nazi in all of us.
Consequently, if man is to survive on this planet it will be necessary for him to control his killer instinct and teach his children that "I will not kill."
Michael Thai Santa Monica, Calif.
I must agree with Lance Morrow's observation that the American adolescent trying to comprehend the phenomenon from television comes away with a shallow understanding.
As a high school history teacher, I spent part of two class periods discussing Holocaust. I was shockingly awakened to the melodramatic aspects of the production when a ninth-grader asked about the photographs of stacked, starved bodies shown to Nazi Dorf during the last installment. "What happened to those people? Why did they look like that?" he asked. Many youngsters saw Holocaust more as a swashbuckling novel than as a historical atrocity.
William D. Buckley Kew Gardens, N. Y.
My children have toured Dachau. They saw the ovens and stood in the showers, but they didn't begin to comprehend what happened until they watched Holocaust. The drama was worthwhile.
Sheila J. Dolan North Stonington, Conn.
Though I watched Holocaust, I found that I could not feel the same sympathy for the plight of the Jews as I would have 30 years ago. We have since been made vividly aware of the Zionist Jews' shameful treatment of the Palestinian people, who were not even remotely responsible for the suffering of the Jews in Europe.
Dan West Gaithersburg, Md.
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